


What's Lost Is Found

by exemias



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game), The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-13
Updated: 2019-06-13
Packaged: 2020-05-02 09:41:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19196329
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exemias/pseuds/exemias
Summary: Taako has often been alone.By himself or surrounded by others, he kept to himself.He made himself known, but he never let anyone know him.Occasionally, he feels like something is wrong.Like the world is twisted out of shape,Like he is missing a piece of himself,But when he thinks, he cannot remember.Some nights, he thinks long and hard,But all he feels is static.He has lost someone, but who?There is a void in his heart.He is half of a whole.He feels stupid for thinking these things.Of course he isn't missing anyone,It's not like there was ever anyoneThat was there, that wanted him.





	What's Lost Is Found

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a short fic I decided to write during my downtime, I hope you enjoy it! <3

Feeling alone is not something new to Taako. He spent much of his youth travelling alone.

Of course, he was not truly alone. There were always people nearby, and in time, he grew fond of several of them. But none of them really got him. None of them really knew him.

Part of that was his fault, he didn't open up to them. But how could he? They didn't know him, they didn't care for him. And if he made himself vulnerable, they might hurt him. He couldn't let that happen.

So he kept to himself. He performed feats of magic, he mastered the culinary arts, and he made himself known. But he never let anybody know him.

Once, on a clear summer day, Taako sat beside a pond. He practiced his cantrips in solitude, thinking of what he might one day be able to accomplish. Part of him knew he could accomplish great things, but it felt so far out of reach. How could a person make it anywhere in life alone? And how could a person like him ever find anyone to walk through life with him? Distracted by his thoughts, he was then startled by his reflection in the pond.

_That's just me,_ Taako thought. But he could not draw his attention away from the reflection. It reminded him of something, no, someone else. But who? 

Taako felt, deep in his chest, a pang of sadness, which grew larger as he continued to stare at the reflection.

_Something isn't right,_ he thought, but he could not recall what was wrong. All he knew was there was something fundamentally wrong with the world, that he missed someone like he had never felt before, but who? He had nobody to miss. 

His concentration was broken when a bee flew across his reflection, but he spent the next week thinking about that moment. It was odd, certainly, but eventually that memory faded from his attention. 

Months after the pond incident, Taako jolted awake in the middle of the night, sweat rolling down his forehead. He knew that he had just had a truly, truly terrible dream, but when he tried to think back on what it was, his mind felt numb, like there was nothing but static there. Every once in a while, he'd have this recurring dream (or rather, lack of dream) that would shake him to his core for the rest of the night. What had he seen? Why couldn't he remember? Was there something wrong with him?

Years later, Taako was travelling with another couple of adventurers, "Merle Highchurch" and "Magnus Burnsides." Taako had traveled with many people in his life, but these two felt different. They almost felt like what Taako would imagine friends felt like. He felt weak for thinking that, he knew that they would most likely be out of his life the moment this job was completed. He knew he would most likely be alone again. 

During this job, the trio came across a staff in a dungeon, unique and brilliant. Upon first sight, Taako knows he has to have it. It is familiar to him, but he cannot explain why. Upon first holding the staff, he feels like he is on the right path, that he is heading towards something that he has to do. The world is wrong, it is so very, very wrong, but on this path, Taako knows he might be able to make it right. 

He almost wants to tell the staff "Hi" and "I missed you," but it is just a staff, and beyond that, it is a staff he has never known.

From this point on, every spell Taako casts has more vigor behind it. Every sigil and glyph he traces through the air, every arcane word he mutters, they feel like they are the only thing he has to do. He cannot imagine himself in any other place, doing any other thing. 

With this staff in his hands, and his friends by his side, he knows that he belongs. He feels wanted. He even feels loved, though he may not admit it.

Then, in the Crystal Kingdom, when the trio encounters the nameless Red Robe, the figure recognizes the staff in Taako's hands. 

"What? You-You found her??" it shouted out, before vanishing, seemingly losing control.

Was Taako not crazy? Was there really someone that he is missing, that he has forgotten? But who? Was this just a trick played by the enemy?

Then, back at the moon base, the staff seemed to take a mind of it's own, unleashing a devastating spell against the wall, spelling out:

**L U P**

What did it mean? Taako felt like he was being screamed at, like someone was begging him to hear them, but no matter how hard he thought, no matter how deep he searched in his mind, he had never known any person or thing named "Lup."

_If I knew what the staff was trying to tell me, I would remember it,_ he thought, trying to reassure himself as tears welled in his eyes. 

He wanted to know, he wanted to understand. Why couldn't he? He needed to, but he couldn't. 

And why did it feel like he was just half a person? Like someone that never existed was the key to him being whole. 

Dozens of occurrences in his mind, memories floating around like puzzle pieces, he just needed to figure out how they went together, and why they went together. Taako did not know they were related, but he was beginning to have his suspicions. 

The final straw was Angus firing an impossibly powerful spell out of the staff. 

"That wasn't me," Angus said, shocked, as he threw the staff to Taako.

Taako knew it was someone else, someone he had forgotten, but who?

Taako raised the staff up in both arms. 

_One way to find out,_ he thought as he brought the staff down over his knee, snapping it in half.

As the wood splintered, a wave of arcane fire erupted out, followed by a sonic wave of deafening sound. 

The room shook as Taako was sent flying backwards. 

From where Taako was standing, a cloud of red smoke starts to gather and encircle the room as fireworks dazzled through the room - yellow, orange, and pink flares combusting within the fiery mass of the cloud.

The room went white, everyone momentarily blinded, and as Taako's vision begins to return to him, he sees a figure in a red cloak.

It is Lup, phantasmal and resplendent, her outstretched palm still coated in the licking of flames. 

Taako does not know how to react. He does not know how to feel.

But finally, he does know who he had lost, he remembers.

Of course, how could he forget Lup, his brilliant and beautiful sister, his other half.

Quickly, every memory he has ever had comes flooding back.

As Lup turns around, Taako heard his sister's voice for the first time in years, and he clings to this sound like it may very well be the last time he ever hears it again.

He will not forget, not again. No force in the multiverse is enough to keep his sister from him.

For the first time in as long as he can remember, the world feels right.

He is right where he needs to be. 

**Author's Note:**

> It could probably use a bunch of editing but I just really wanted to write and publish something so this is it. Maybe I'll come back to it and fix it later.


End file.
